1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to inventory systems, and particularly to an inventory system for inventorying a plurality of items in a supply, including a plurality of subgroupings of similar item types.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Inventory systems are becoming increasingly important in our modern society, particularly in view of the recent development of just-in--time supply techniques. It is well known that nearly all industries are working toward a just-in-time approach to making raw materials and finished products available for use or consumption.
All inventory systems are driven by an overriding concern for accuracy, which is necessary for intelligently managing any supply of items. Very little work has been done toward modernizing inventory techniques in school districts for managing the supply, location, and availability of text books for the students. Frequently it takes weeks or months to receive an order of text books from a publisher, once an order is placed. Therefore, school districts have traditionally overreacted to the risk of having a shortfall in text books by over-ordering of texts.
Since most text book control systems are rather rudimentary, it is also not uncommon for a school district to have many thousands of misplaced, unused, and superfluous text books. School administrators and principals are also known to shift large blocks of student texts from school to school without regard to the existing inventory control systems, further increasing the inaccuracy of the system and loss of data. Of course, it is extremely expensive for school districts to maintain a huge volume of books which are unnecessary and which become useless as subsequent editions of each book are issued. In other words, valuable public resources are squandered by current text book inventory and control systems.